The allure of a Tonkotsu Ramen brought us to Zensaki Sushi & Izakaya. If you haven't read our previous posts, we strongly recommend reading about our favourite ramen shops in Perth, Nao Japaneseand Dosukoi. Having eaten at Zensaki shortly after it first opened, we were surprised to hear that they had a Tonkotsu Ramen available.

The restaurant has undergone a makeover since first opening, with a sushi train serving up a variety of sushi, sashimi and other various dishes which looked pretty delicious. What brought us here though was the promise of a Tonkotsu Ramen. A Tonkotsu broth is achieved by boiling pork bones, fat and other various goodies for hours and hours on end, this results in an extremely rich, creamy and powerfully porky soup.

Sadly, Zensaki's Tonkotsu fails to deliver, quite frankly it was more of a toilet-kotsu. It was extremely bland, with a distinct lack of the porkiness you expect from a Tonkotsu, I'm going to delve into my Singaporean mothers phrase book and classify the soup as longkang chui, or in English, drain water. To further heighten the disappointment the creaminess which sets a Tonkotsu apart from other ramen soup bases was missing. If you haven't realised, we were quite disappointed with the "Tonkotsu" broth served up.

Now that is out of our system, the positives. The chashu was absolutely sublime, in fact we would go back purely to eat more of it. The ramen comes topped with a generous serving of four, half inch thick pieces of chashu. The chashu was so tender that it fell apart with the slightest poke of a chopstick and it literally melted in your mouth. We'd go as far as saying it's the best chashu of any of the Ramen we have had in Perth.

People on Urbanspoon rave about the Ramen at Zensaki, claiming that it is the best in Perth. Here at The Pavarotti we will have to disagree. Maybe we got the Tonkotsu on an off day but both Nao and Dosukoi serve up superior soup bases and without a doubt Nao has the best best noodles in town. Will we be back? Damn straight! That chashu was too good not to go back for. Maybe we'll give one of their other soup bases a chance or maybe we'll just gorge on some chashu.

Have we gotten this all wrong, is the Tonkotsu usually better? Let us know in the comments below .

ABOUT US

The Pavarotti is three Perth guys with a love of lunch and a disdain for Perth prices.

The highlight of our day involves leaving our soggy leftovers in the fridge, strolling to a local eatery and enjoying some fresh food. But living in Perth, this can seriously hit your hip pocket! That's why we have taken up this noble pursuit.

Join The Pavarotti as we hunt down the best (and worst) lunches that Perth has to offer in the sub-ten-dollar price range.

To borrow an overused cliche, when life gives you lemons you make lemonade. This is just the case with one of our three tenors. A recent office relocation has seen him move from the heart of the CBD to the industrial estate of Welshpool. Initial thoughts of servo pies and lunch bar chicko rolls were met with resignation.
With the initial moaning and whinging complete, he decided to squeeze those lemons. As a result we have discovered a plethora of great dining options in the immediate surroundings and have coined a new hash tag ‪#‎workinginwelshpoolisokay.
Join the Pavarotti as we broaden our horizons and explore the options in and around Welshpool. A little taste of what to come is below. As newbies in the area, please feel free to make some recommendations!
#perthfood #lunchforatenor #cheapeats

Making the most of the last weekend at the station street markets. Hawkers delight serving up a pretty great fried rice cake. #thisisgonnaburn #lunchforatenor #cheapeats #instafood #perth

We're sorry we have been absent. Check out our review of @williewagtail_ on the blog

@levietnamcafe The best #banhmi in the cbd #perthfood #cheapeats #lunchforatenor #instafood. More details on the blog.